Vehicle efficiency is improved by adding a shroud around the cooling fan. Unfortunately, the shroud provides a convenient resting place for animals, especially in cold weather when the vehicle is warm. Animals perch in the shroud to keep warm. When the vehicle is started considerable damage can be done to both the vehicle and the animal as the animal spins around within the shroud as the vehicle runs. This often kills the animal.
Numerous innovations for a fan shroud guard have been provided in the prior art that are described as follows. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present invention as hereinafter contrasted.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,121, titled Fan Shroud with Locating Claw, invented by Bruce A. Bryson, Erin Faessler and Robert Gmerek, there is disclosed a fan motor support, for use in combination with a motor vehicle radiator of the type having a U-shaped channel extending along an upper side of the radiator, having a motor mounting portion, a support structure and a claw portion. The motor mounting portion has a motor opening therethrough. The support structure is configured to extend across a portion of a rear surface of the radiator. The claw portion extends from the support structure and has a first member configured to reside in the U-shaped channel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,502, titled Fan Shroud Aspirator, invented by Scott A. Hudson, there is taught an aspirator mounted on a fan shroud surrounding a vehicle cooling fan. The aspirator has a housing which forms a duct which connects an opening to a port for connecting to a vehicle function. The aspirator is spaced apart from the fan and upstream from the fan and extends at an acute angle with respect to a tangent to a cylindrical wall of the shroud. The aspirator has a near edge which faces generally opposite to a direction of rotation of the fan blades and which is parallel to a leading edge of a fan blade when the leading edge is spaced apart from the near edge by a distance which is slightly larger than the width of the fan blade. The aspirator has a flange which projects parallel to a plane of rotation of the fan and generally in the rotation direction of the fan. The duct has a triangular cross sectional shape with an apex which projects in a direction which is upstream with respect to the flow of air moved by the fan.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,016, titled Radiator, Condenser and Fan Shroud Assembly, invented by James D. Bolton, Li-Jen P. Ho and Michael E. Rutt, a fan shroud, radiator and condenser assembly for an air conditioned vehicle is disclosed, whereby a limited number of fasteners are utilized so as to provide a more efficient and maintenance free assembly. The components of the assembly are connected through a slidable connecting means, and a pre-stressed mounting panel is utilized to secure and maintain the components in their assembled positions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,983, titled Vehicle Hydraulic Cooling Fan System, invented by Carl A. Nilson, there is disclosed a hydraulic cooling system for vehicles utilizing a hydraulic pump driven by the vehicle engine, the pump, preferably, having high and low volume chambers, a shroud adapted to be associated with the vehicle engine cooling radiator, a fan driven by hydraulic fluid pressurized by the pump for producing air flow through the shroud and the engine cooling radiator, and the hydraulic circuit between the pump and the fan motor includes a reservoir and a control valve sensitive to the engine coolant temperature. The control valve is located within the reservoir, and the reservoir is mounted upon the shroud and includes heat exchanging fins exposed to the air passage within the shroud. The entire combination of components may be pre-assembled and shipped and installed as a unit.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,473, titled Fan/Radiator Combination for Snowmobile with Liquid Cooled Engine, invented by Kirk A. Boyer, an improved liquid cooled heat management system for a snowmobile vehicle is described. To maintain the under-the-hood air temperature at optimum operating values while providing the necessary cooling for the vehicle's internal combustion engine, an air inlet opening is formed in the hood or other body panel of the snowmobile defining the engine compartment and disposed within this engine compartment is an appropriately sized heat exchanger through which the liquid coolant is made to flow when the engine is running. The air inlet opening in the hood or body panel designed to enclose the heat exchanger or radiator on the fan suction side and an engine-driven fan also disposed within the duct draws outside air through the heat exchanger at a rate that is directly related to engine speed. Because of the manner in which the duct work is structured, warmer, under-the-hood air is effectively isolated from the stream of cold outside air drawn through the heat exchanger. Furthermore, the engine's exhaust manifold is also liquid-cooled which further enhances the overall efficiency of the system.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,911, titled Cooling Fan Shroud Mounted on an Engine Vehicle, invented by Yutaka Yamaguchi, Tatsuya Yamaguchi and Hisao Nagata, a cooling fan shroud is shown mounted on an engine vehicle compriseing an engine mounting, a radiator mounting and a flexible member made of rubber bellows and connecting the engine mounting and the radiator mounting. The lower portion of the engine mounting formed in a reverse U-shape, and includes a proportion of the radiator mounting is formed in a reverse L-shape. The radiator has a support projecting from the lower portion thereof and formed in a U-shape cross section. The reverse L-shaped lower portion of the radiator mounting of the fan shroud is inserted into the U-shaped support projecting from the lower portion of the radiator. The engine has a support formed in a L-shape at the lower portion thereof. The reverse U-shaped lower portion of the engine mounting is inserted onto the L-shaped support of the engine. The upper portions of the engine mounting and radiator mounting of the fan shroud are secured to the engine and the radiator by means of screws.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,551, titled Fan Assembly for Vehicles, invented by Keri-Ichiro Mizutani, Hiroto Masai and Nobuyoshi I(ozawa, a cooling fan assembly made of plastic material and composed of a plurality of fan blades is a boss and connected to a viscous fluid coupling device rotatably mounted through a bearing assembly on a driving shaft of an automotive vehicle. An axially resilient connecting member in the form of a plate spring is fixed to the boss of the fan assembly at one end thereof and to the coupling device at the other end thereof, whereby the inertia moment of the fan rotation causes the appropriate rotation of the fan assembly in spite of possible misalignment of the coupling device with respect to the driving shaft to thereby protect the bearing assembly from being damaged. Helical or waved springs may be interposed between the fan boss and the coupling device in place of the plate spring.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,270, titled Automotive fan Shroud for Screening Debris, invented by Kenneth J. Kolinger, Norman E. Williams, Donald M. Earley and William R. Golden, there is disclosed a shroud, associated with a type of automotive fan and a vehicle radiator core, supports in a position between the fan and core an interposed debris screen which is slidable in guides in the shroud so as to be readily removable transversely out of the hood of an automotive vehicle for cleaning of the screen. Doing the job of cleaning a removed screen is more simplified as a task than, cleaning debris from a radiator core in situ.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,297, titled Four-Piece Fan Shroud, invented by Robert C. Haupt, a multi-piece fan shroud is disclosed having a front mounting flange adapted for fastening to a radiator of a motor vehicle and rear venturi portion for discharge of air to improve the efficiency and quietness of operation of the fan and shroud.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,965, titled Automotive Fan Shroud for Screening Debris, there is disclosed a shroud, associated with a type of automotive fan and a vehicle radiator core, supports in a position between the fan and core an interposed debris screen which is slidable in guides in the shroud so as to be readily removable transversely out of the hood of an automotive vehicle for cleaning of the screen. Air enters the fan shroud under pressure by being blown in through fan opening means defined by the shroud at one end, and exits under pressure in a path through a radiator attachment means carried by the shroud at the other, or discharge, end. Intermediate the ends of the shroud, the debris screen is interposed with its plane between the respective planes of the opening means and attachment means, so as to screen all air being forced under pressure in the path therethrough.
The above patented inventions differ from the present invention because they fail to describe or claim at least one combination of the following features depicted in the present invention: a pet safety guard which surrounds the moving parts of a fan functioning to keep pets away. Further the present invention can be installed on a vehicle after the point of manufacture. The present invention adapts to ducted fans which are enclosed within an aerodynamic shroud and fans which are unshrouded.